The Chinese Embassy in Ankara has recently released a statement regarding the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region. Pointing out within the statement that the population of Muslims has surpassed 13 million, it stated that "The Uighur population in 1949 was 3,610,000, and this number became 10 million 70 thousand in 2010. The health conditions in the region are continuously developing." The statement further indicated that "The number of mosques in the region during the 1980s was nearly 2,000, whereas today the number has reached 24,300 and the number of religious officials has exceeded 28,000. While in Xinjiang, approximately one mosque for every 400 Muslims is designated, Turkey's Presidency of Religious Affairs has stated that there are 82,693 mosques throughout Turkey, which equates to one mosque for nearly 920 Muslims."
Underlining that the religious and cultural rights of the minority groups are being protected, while the rights of using their language are being protected, the statement further added that the traditional cultures are being developed. The statement continued by indicating that Xinjiang's National Radio broadcasts in five languages as the television broadcasts in four languages. The Governorate of the Uighur Autonomous Region has also emphasized that in the year 1994, the region's GDP was 1 billion Yuan, which had increased by 118 times by 2014 to 900 billion. The Uighur Governorate further added that citizens of ethnic groups govern the municipality and the district governorate.
In last week, thousands of Turkish people have gathered to protest China's harsh restrictions, including a ban on fasting imposed on Uighurs during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan across Turkey.
